The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum has a digital library containing thousands of photographs of plants and animals. The digital library is an interactive site that has a kidâs page with videos, animal sounds, and games.
The photo is courtesy of: http://members.multimania.nl/onager/ballista.htmlMangonelThe Mangonel is what many people think of when they think of a catapult. From the Latin word manganon meaning engine of war. The Mangonel was invented by the Romans in 400 BC. The Mangonel consists of a long wood arm with a bucket (early models used a sling) with a rope attached to the end. The arm is then pulled back (from natural 90o angle) then energy was stored in the tension of the rope and the arm. Then the bucket would be loaded.
Believed to have been created by the Chinese in 300 BC the Trebuchet was the most powerful of the catapults. The Trebuchet arrived in Europe around 500 AD. The Trebuchet consisted of a long arm (could be up to 60 ft long) balanced on a fulcrum that was far from center.